
Keeping the Global South in the Loop
China and ASEAN launch joint AI media initiative as Beijing expands its technological influence regionally.

The Confederation of ASEAN Journalists was founded in Jakarta on March 11, 1975 by delegates of the national journalist organizations of ASEAN member states. Journalist bodies from Myanmar and Cambodia later joined. Its presidency rotates among member organizations. Indonesia took the post for 2022–2024 at a general assembly in Bali in October 2022, with PWI chairman Atal S. Depari as president. Speaking in that capacity at the 2023 Belt and Road Journalists Forum in Beijing, Depari said journalists had a responsibility to cover the initiative accurately and comprehensively, emphasizing its opportunities. Such formulations echo Beijing’s longstanding calls for foreign media to provide “balanced” coverage of China, which in practice generally means coverage that is more positive.
